Spacewalk offer isn't a walk in park

Virginia company charging $35 million.

Virginia company charging $35 million.

July 22, 2006

WASHINGTON (AP) -- You don't have to be an astronaut anymore to experience walking in space. All you need is $35 million and the willingness to risk your life. A private Virginia firm that already has sent three super-rich men to the international space station for $20 million each announced Friday it would offer an even rarer adventure: A stroll outside the space station for an extra $15 million. "It is the holy grail of spaceflight; it's something very few of the astronauts and cosmonauts have done," said Eric Anderson, chief executive of Space Adventures Ltd. With the blessing of the Russian space agency, Space Adventures is arranging for the first spacewalking tourist to go into orbit in about a year or so, Anderson said. The trip would involve a launch in a Soyuz capsule, an eight-day stay aboard the international space station and a 90-minute spacewalk in a Russian spacesuit. An extra month would be added to the six-month cosmonaut training. The plan still needs the approval of the other 15 partners in the international space station -- including NASA -- but Anderson said Russian space officials are confident they can get the OK. NASA, which has grudgingly accepted Russian-initiated space tourism, would not comment on the proposal. A spacewalking tourist is "probably unwise," said one former astronaut, who almost died during a February 1997 fire aboard the Russian Mir space station. "Common sense tells you that you want professionals trained to the Nth degree to do jobs like astronaut jobs," said Jerry Linenger, who was the first American to wear a Russian spacesuit in a spacewalk.